WSJ's Henninger: Hillary Will Have Difficulty Rationalizing Iraq

It will be difficult for Hillary Clinton to separate herself from President Barack Obama on the subject of Iraq, says Daniel Henninger, deputy editorial page director of The Wall Street Journal.

"She can more eloquently than anybody explain away virtually anything, and on this specific subject … she will try to rationalize herself out from under it,'' Henninger told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"But I have to say, it's going to be difficult. She was secretary of state over those four years, and questions will be asked about what her view was of the threat from al-Qaida.''

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Iraq has been under siege this week as a violent al-Qaida splinter group called ISIS conquers city after city in its quest to turn Iraq and Syria into one state.

Henninger said Clinton also needs to placate progressive Democrats if she wants their support in her presumed 2016 presidential bid. And that is easier said than done.

"She has to watch her flank on the left and the Democratic Party, the progressives, and to win she's going to need their support,'' he said.

"And they are going to want to see full-throated support for President Obama's foreign policy because this is the foreign policy, this withdrawal of the U.S. from the world, this lowering of the American profile.

"This is the foreign policy they've always wanted. They're going to have to live with it for better or worse, but I don't think they're going to let Hillary separate herself from it.''